Trafficking Art

I explored areas of Tokyo that were familiar to me while developing and photographing Recontextualized, a series in which I explored the idea of the street as a large art gallery and the canvas is its walls, windows, and concrete. Parallel to those photographs are these images, taken while I was waiting to cross streets. How universally known objects if viewed differently can alter the perception of what has the potential to be art.

On the surface these traffic lines function for a specific reason (road safety), and can be found in some shape and form in nearly every country in the world. I’m interested in these graphic forms as another way to explore that art is everywhere around us and that we are able to create art from the mundane.

Trafficking Art #0110

Trafficking Art #0437

Trafficking Art #0241

Trafficking Art #0279

Trafficking Art #0289

Trafficking Art #0297

Trafficking Art #0298

Trafficking Art #0095

Trafficking Art #0345

Trafficking Art #0391

Trafficking Art #0425

Trafficking Art #9625

If you want to see more this project was further explored and featured in Volume 1 of my zine (minutiae) with images that were not shared or seen by anybody else other than myself.

minutiae is a self-published zine of photography & images by Kristopher Matheson. Each volume complements ongoing styles, themes and projects that I am developing.

Trafficking Art (A5, 20 pages) is the inaugural volume consisting of black & white graphic abstract images of pedestrian crossings and street intersections around Tokyo. The images in the zine were not published in the original project, most have not been seen by anyone else besides myself. Each copy is printed and handbound by me, so please allow for a few days before I get it shipped out.